Method and apparatus for obtaining uniform tension in tow



I. A. SCHWARTZ Aug. 24, 1954 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING UNIFORM TENSION IN TOW Filed Jan. 13, 1950 Inventor IRA A. SCHWARTZ 2 5 z Gttorneg v Patented Aug. 24, T1954 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING UNIFORM TENSION 1N TOW Ira A. Schwartz, Philadelphia, Pa. Application January 13, 1950, Serial No. 138,289

2 Claims.

My invention relates to the drawing of fibres in the manufacture of yarn, and it is concerned with the problem of providing a uniform tension in the tow.

Heretofore, tow which is composed of a H1111, tiple number of continuous filaments has been drawn non-uniformly into back rollers such as are upon a Perlok stapling machine. No matter what was done to the tow the roll feed would not feed the tow uniformly. In other words, the tow was fed into the rollers so that an undesirable non-uniform tension resulted and the tow entered the drafting field in a non-uniform manner.

The problem of getting a uniform feed has presented itself in the handling of crimped tow.

It, therefore, is an object of my invention to provide a more uniform tension in the individual end of tow in feeding.

Another object of my invention is to provide more positive means to equalize the tension in a multiple number of ends of tow being fed into a machine. a 1

It is another object of my invention to provide a uniform tension in tow no matter whether the fibres are of silk, rayon, nylon, or artificial acetates, or a natural fibre.

Other objects of my invention are to provide an improved device of the character described, that is easily and economically produced, which is sturdy in construction, and which is highly efficient in operation.

With the above and related objects in view, my invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts as will be more fully understood from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which: i

Fig. l is a side elevational view of my invention as applied to a stapling machine.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the porcupine into which the tow was originally fed.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of tow being draw the tow into the machine. The tow is passed to the drafting field by a series of rollers. I have found that a uniform tension is obtained in the tow by taking the tow from its original container, as shown in Fig. 1 passing it over a pair of idle rollers l2, l4 and then around a porcupine, generally designated as B, which porcupine is kept in tension 'by a weight 0 attached to the free end of a rope which encircles the shaft [8A of the porcupine, the other end of the rope being secured to a fixed part of the frame. The rope imposes a frictional drag on the otherwise freely rotatable shaft so that the porcupine is free to rotate simply by the movement of the tow over the projecting pins of the porcupine. The friction imposed on the porcupine holds the tow under tension and releases the tow in a uniform manner as the rollers 10A, IOB draw the tow A therethrough.

One porcupine B is secured to its shaft IBA to rotate therewith, and a second shaft [8B carries a second porcupine Bl.

Each tow may pass over an individually rotatable and an individually controlled porcupine.

In other words, one of the problems that occurs is that when the tow is passed to the first pair of rollers as heretofore has been the case then the tension imposed on the tow as it is fed to the rollers is not uniform because some of the tow is bunched up in places and is stretched out in others. This is not desirable; hence the purpose of my invention is-to obtain uniform tension in tow.

Utilizing my invention as hereinbefore described the porcupine unit will not rotate at a uniform speed; in some cases the porcupine will move slowly and in some cases it will move rapidly.

My invention may be used on any machines for drawing worsted slivers or it may be used on any machine for drawing any fibers such as cotton, acetates, silk, rayon, or nylon.

Although my invention has been described in considerable detaiLsuch description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a machine for handling tow, comprising a plurality of idle rollers over which the tow passes, a plurality of drawing rollers through which said tow passes, a rotatable porcupine located between said idle rollers and said drawing rollers, and means to impose a frictional force upon said porcupine whereby the tow is held in tension and whereby the towis released from the porcupine in a uniform manner, said porcupine being fixedly mounted upon a shaft to rotate freely therewith and said frictional force being provided by a braking device applied to said shaft.

2. The machine of claim 1 wherein said braking device comprises a rope encircling said shaft and having one end thereof attached to said machine and the other end thereof attached to a weight.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,768,22'1 Thoma June 24, 1930 Number Name Date Elzer Feb. 8, 1938 Solanas Oct. 29, 1940 Bird Aug. 26, 1941 Bird May 24, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain of 1846 

